Announcing the ‘Charles B. Pierce Film Festival’ for Texarkana

The "Charles B. Pierce Mini-Retrospective" at the Silvermoon Theater in Texarkana was full of surprises and good news for the community. With a special proclamation made by both Texarkana mayors, the announcement of the "Charles B. Pierce Film Festival", and the introduction of the "Charles B. Pierce Scholarship" for Texas A&M / Texarkana.

There was a fantastic turnout for the mini-retrospective featuring two of Charlie's movies, "Winterhawk" and "The Evictors". It was a fine recognition that Charlie earned as an independent filmmaker and entrepreneur, and the evening was a wonderful way to commemorate his life and work. The evening was made possible by Commercial National Bank in an arrangement with Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. (The staff at the Silvermoon were just amazing, and really put on a great event in a very cool facility.)

Before the screening of the first film, the crowd was treated to a complimentary "concesions stand" with all of your favorite "movie treats" including beer and wine for the people old enough, and soft drinks and water for others. There were lots of Pierce's family and friends on-hand for the event which made it even more special with the surprise announcements that Kirk Lohse had planned for intermission.

Photos by Jeff Easterling

Both, Texarkana Texas Mayor Bob Bruggeman and Texarkana Arkasas Mayor Wayne Smith presented a special proclamation to members of the Pierce family honoring one of of our City's most famous with officially proclaiming June 16, "Charles B. Pierce Day" in the two cities.

Jeff Easterling

Another big surprise of the night, was the announcement of next summer's "Charles B. Pierce Film Festival" planned for June 13-15 of 2014. Three days of fun, food, and film that are expected to be one of the largest events in our community featuring local and regional filmmakers, and bringing independent filmmakers from all over the country to Texarkana, along with their families and friends, vendors, stellar workshop presenters, speakers from all over the country and LOTS more. The event will feature retrospectives of Pierce films, a Blue Carpet Party, Film Screenings, the "48 Hour Video Contest", workshops, and of course, awards.

Artists may submit feature length (at least 75 minutes) and/or short films and videos (no more than 30 minutes) in any of the following categories:

Another big announcement was that the proceeds from this "Mini-retrospective" will go towards the "Charles B. Pierce Scholarship" for Texas A&M/Texarkana.

Proceeds from the Charles B. Pierce Film Festival will be used to endow the scholarship at Texas A&M-Texarkana, for deserving students who desire to make a career in film or video production.

With that, some very special thanks to all who are making all of this possible... Julia & Helen Mobley, Jack Bolls, Josh & Diana Morris, Jay Wommack, Amanda Pierce Squitero, Charles B. Pierce Jr., Russ McDermott, Kirk Lohse, Nick Crabtree, Bart Weiss, Donna Chatman and the many, many volunteers that will make this a premier event for the area in the future. (Sincere apologies to anyone I have may have missed, you are all appreciated very much.)